Postal codes in Portugal

The Portuguese postal code (código postal) is formed by four digits, a hyphen, then three digits, followed by a postal location of up to 25 characters in capitals. This location is the name of the town, sometimes followed by a three-letter abbreviation of the municipality (e.g. 4455-111 Paradela VNB)

Postal codes are given at the building block level and also to designated addresses with high volumes of mail. The first digit designates one of nine postal regions; the following two digits designate postal distribution centers; the fourth digit is 0 if it belongs to a capital of municipality, 5 if not, or any other digit if it is a designated address; the last three digits sort building blocks and designated addresses. The more important the city, the more rounded is the number formed by the first four digits.

1###: Red; 2###: Green; 3###: Purple; 4###: Cream; 5###: Pink; 6###: Grey; 7###: Blue; 8###: Yellow; 9###: Brown

Prior to 1976, only Lisbon had used a system, of six zones (Lisboa 1 to Lisboa 6). In 1976, a national postal code system was introduced, with a four-digit structure, and designated addresses added "CODEX" (abbreviation of código extraordinário) to the postal location (example: 2001 SANTARÉM CODEX). In 1994, three extra digits were introduced and the "codex" expression was dropped.

Postal regions (first digit of postal code):[1]

  1. (red) - City of Lisbon
  2. (green) - Estremadura e Ribatejo: Lisbon Metropolitan Area (except City of Lisbon), Santarém District and parts of Leiria District
  3. (purple) - Beira Litoral: Coimbra and Aveiro districts and part of Leira and Viseu districts
  4. (cream) - Minho e Douro Litoral: Viana do Castelo, Braga District and Porto District and part of Viseu and Vila Real Districts
  5. (pink) - Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro: Bragança District, most of Vila Real District and northern parts of Viseu District and Guarda District
  6. (grey) - Beira Interior: Castelo Branco District and Guarda District and northern tip of Portalegre District
  7. (blue) - Alentejo: Beja District and Évora District and parts of Portalegre District and Setúbal District
  8. (yellow) - Algarve: Faro District
  9. (brown) - Madeira Islands and Azores

Note that, although the regions' names are connected the (extinct) 1936 provinces of Portugal, their limits (with the exception of Algarve) are not exactly the same.

People can also search for postal codes at the CTT Correios website.

Postal Codes for main cities

Lisbon: 1000, 1050, 1070, 1100, 1150, 1170, 1200, 1250, 1300, 1350, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1750, 1800, 1900 and 1990

Porto: 4000, 4050, 4100, 4150, 4200, 4250, 4300 and 4350

Aveiro: 3800 and 3810

Beja: 7800

Braga: 4700, 4705, 4710 and 4715

Bragança: 5300

Castelo Branco: 6000

Coimbra: 3000, 3020, 3025, 3030, 3040 and 3045

Évora: 7000 and 7005

Faro: 8000 and 8805

Funchal: 9000, 9020, 9030 and 9050

Guarda: 6300

Leiria: 2400, 2405, 2410, 2415 and 2420

Ponta Delgada: 9500

Portalegre: 7300

Santarém: 2000 and 2005

Setúbal: 2900 and 2910

Viana do Castelo: 4900

Vila Real: 5000

Viseu: 3500, 3505, 3510 and 3515

Porto Santo:9400

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Post Code Search". CTT. Retrieved 2008-05-04.

External links